Despite the competitiveness between the GOP and the Constitution Party on the presidential level on the Congressional level things couldn't be better for the Constitution Party who were benefiting from a massive exodus of conservative Republicans and Democrats in the American South, the heartland, and the Mountain West. For the first time in the 20th Century a third party would have more House Representatives elected than a major party as the Constitution Party would have one more representative than the Democratic Party in the US House. The "Liberal Party", a party of former progressive Republicans would experience decent gains in the northeast and New England but end up losing their one US Senate seat (Senator Javits, who was running for President). The Classic Liberal Party, which owed it's congressional representation to former Democrats switching in protest of the Democratic ticket, lost it's one House seat (Representative John P. Williams of MT-1) to the Republicans, leaving only Senator Scott Westman (MT) and Senator Raul Ramirez (NM) in the Congress. Due to the rise of the Constitution Party to major third party status the Republicans have lost majority status in the US House. It seems for the Republican Party to pass legislation it will have to work closely with the right wing Constitution Party.

One thing remained unsettled, and that was the US Presidential Election which would determine ultimately how powerful the rise of the Constitution Party really was...............

Westman: Today me and my colleague are here to announce that due to our failure to strike a chord with the American voting public that for the sake of unity we will be returning to the Democratic Party. We wish our fellow Democrats, Walter Mondale and Fred Harris, the best of luck. Know that in spite of all the division within the party we will back this ticket 110% come run-off day. Good luck and God Bless.Rather: With the announcement of Westman and Ramirez returning to the Democratic Party that means that spirits are lifted, as Democrats are assured to have 33 seats in January. Not only that but it means that Westman's official endorsement of the Democratic ticket throws a wrench into an election many assumed to be between the Republican and Constitution tickets. We could be in for a long election season folks.

In the two weeks before the run-off election the candidates would pull out all stops to shift the electoral advantage to their favor. Most notably many libertarian Democrats who had voted for the CLP would defect back to the Democratic ticket and support the Mondale/Harris ticket, giving the Democrats a most needed boost of momentum. Although the chances of the Democrats winning were slim, many Democrat's spirits were raised with the thought of putting a dent in the election. The Republican ticket would work hard to get the remaining CLP voters who remained unmolested by the party loyalty of Westman and Ramirez while the Constitution ticket would emphasis on the need for competent leadership. The results:

Westman: Damn it! Not again.Rather: According to the precedent put forth by the Voting Reform Act of 1970 voting shall continue until a candidate wins an electoral majority. Therefore another two weeks from now another run-off election shall be held, this time between the Republican, Constitution, and Democratic tickets. Hopefully by then we will finally have elected a United States President.

Kreager: What I think we see happening here is voters deciding "hey this is the guy I'm going to stick with, so tough" mentality. Usually the case in these exhaustive ballot scenarios is that one candidate starts stealing votes from the other candidates due to the impatient nature of the electorate. We have seen that so far despite their best efforts the Democrats have been unable to make an gains on the electoral map. There is speculation that the Democrats, deciding that they have very little chance, to drop out of the race which they can do up to a week before the run-off occurs. Otherwise we might be here until Robert Byrd finishes reading "Green Eggs and Ham."

November 24th, 1980Democratic President Ronald Reagan appears before the press:

Reagan: Ladies and gentlemen of the press it would appear that the American people feel that they are not better off now than they were four years ago. Let me be the first to say to them: I'm sorry. I did what I thought was right to cure the economic hardships this country was facing in the face of opposition not just from the Republicans and Constitution party members, but from my own party as well. Now, I have witnessed the full measure of the people's wrath. I wish to damage my party's reputation any longer, which is why today I have come forward to announce with the blessing of the Democratic nominees as well as Senate leader Lloyd Bentsen that the Democratic Party won't be seeking re-election to the Presidency any longer. Thank you for all of the wonderful years you allowed me to be your president and God Bless.

In the aftermath of his announcement Reagan's approval ratings would jump from 19% to 53%, one of the biggest jumps in approval in US history of a public official. With the Democratic ticket out of the running the race is now down to the Republican and Constitution parties. Who will ultimately win the election?

Finally the day had arrived. With all but two of the original parties removed from the election there was little doubt that the election would finally reach a conclusion come November 28th. In the time leading up to that date both Republican and Constitution Party officials pulled all stops to capture the votes of Democrats who would otherwise stay home in the absence of a Democratic ticket. With D'Israeli appealing to the social liberalism of many voters and Crane appealing to the character preferences of voters the election would be very hard fought. In the end it would come down to this:

I'm glad you're using more than two party system, the way I did earlier in my thread. That's more interesting

First off,

in original Muricana thread D'Israeli calls the Libertarian party victory "the first third party victory since Lincoln", so yeah I went off that.

Secondly, I got the idea due to the fact that D'Israeli's character would be pretty alienating to millions of Republican voters. He is after all a pretty stubborn arse. However you haven't seen the last of him just yet...........

I hope that Westman at least wins re-election, so he can run again in the future. Although I son't know of any major party that would be foolish enought to nominate him. If he's re-elected, he might be a good prospect for the Classic Liberal nomination in 1984.

Senate Minority Leader Lloyd Bentsen, Democrat of Texas, is in his study having a drink with his Whip Tobin MacMahon, Democrat of Virginia. The two Democratic Senate leaders had a lot of mulling over to do, as the Democratic Party was at it's lowest level of representation since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. Hell, proportionally speaking the Democrats might be worse off in 1981 than they were in 1907. Both men sensed that in the next few years things probably wouldn't get much better. Granted it was a Constitution Party Administration, but Phil Crane was no idiot. It seemed that in the period of two years the right wing Constitution Party, which was limited in influence to the South, had got it's act together and managed to win a major victory. The last thing Democrats needed to do was to laugh off the results and discard them as a "fluke", as has been done in the past. Bentsen takes a drink of his Redeye Whiskey mixed with coke before speaking up:Bentsen: This doesn't look bright, at all, Tobin. We really screwed the pooch with the nomination of Mondale and Harris.Bentsen glanced at Tobin MacMahon, the 6'1" Irish born Senator from Virginia. Born May 9th, 1934 in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland to an Irish fisherman named Martin MacMahon and his Celtic musician wife Sorcha, Tobin would spend his childhood in the green countryside of County Kerry. It wasn't until July 19th, 1956 when he would leave his birth county for the United States of America. He would arrive 10 days later in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then going south to Virginia Beach, Virginia to seek work in the tourist industry. He would finally gain his US citizenship on September 8th, 1958. In ten years Tobin would go from broke immigrant to the owner of one of Virginia Beach's most successful resorts: The Happy Clam. Although many of his friends thought it sounded like a name more suited for a pub Tobin managed to make tens of millions of dollars off of the name. He was named in Esquire magazine as "the World's Greatest Rags to Riches Story" in 1966. Combined with some wise stock investments he would retire in February 1971 with a net worth estimated at around $105 million. It was around that time when MacMahon started considering getting into the realm of politics.Tobin paused before taking a sip out of his Bacardi and Cola.MacMahon: Hells bells Lloyd! We made a few massive screw ups in the past but I'm sure in the next few years with the influence of the New Deal Coalition lightened we will be back stronger than ever.Bentsen: It's not just them though, it's upstarts like Westman! I mean damn it his decision to go VP on that Classic Liberal Party cost God knows how many votes in the Congressional elections. It would've been one thing if this was just limited to the Presidential Election but no his rebellion happened to kill us off in some other places.MacMahon: Nonetheless I feel as if his "rebellion" as you called it will only benefit us in the long run. We have some very hard and trying times ahead Lloyd, but I feel that ten years from now we will look back on what happened and feel like it was necessary. The New Deal Coalition has grown arrogant, it was only a matter of time before something like this would happen. The obliteration of these men will be painful in the next few years, but it's in their ashes that we shall create a new coalition.It wasn't until the early seventies when Tobin would get involved in the politics of Virginia. In 1972 he would run off an ambitious platform of increased Civil Rights, support of a Universal Healthcare System, as well as a platform of reduced taxes and spending. In the campaign his Republican opponent, a Michael Johns, would charge that his support of Universal Healthcare violated his stance on reduced taxation and spending. Although it probably would cost him a number of votes Tobin explained that he supports reductions in Social Security and military spending to help make up for whatever additional cost a Universal Healthcare System would incur. He also supported reducing income taxes across the board, namely a 15% reduction on the highest of income earners. His most controversial stance (at the time) was support of a Civil Rights legislation that would've made pay discrimination based on race and gender illegal. He would also come under fire for voicing support for a bill that would abolish the death penalty, as a majority of Virginia's population support the death penalty. He would also run into opposition from some women's rights organizations, who disagreed with his pro-life positions on abortion. He would also be known as one of the first Democrats to openly campaign on a position of free trade. Other positions of his in the campaign included: Opposition to gun control laws such as the 1967 Gun Control Act, opposition to censorship, support of deregulating the alcohol industry to lower costs, support of deregulating the airline industry, etc etc. Since his views were quite similar to President Robert Kennedy and Massachusetts Governor (later Senator) Edward Kennedy, Tobin and other Democrats like him would be labeled "Kennedy Democrats" to help differentiate from the New Deal Coalition that had dominated the party. He would win the election by a 102,500 vote margin, helped in part by the landslide election of Robert Kennedy in 1972.Bentsen: I admire your passion Tobin, but it is really hard in this current state to imagine the Democratic Party somehow gaining the majority within a decade. This is Great Depression bad, I mean it.MacMahon: No it isn't! You know why? Because the Republicans were united in their support of the Protective Tariff, a deeply flawed policy that does nothing but destroy economies! The Democrats were not united in the support of big government interventionism to cure every ail! That was solely the fault of the New Dealers, who will be wiped out by this time in 1984! This is our time, this is the time for the New Coalition, never again shall this party become the party of Big Government All the Time. Once again we shall give more ear to the will of the people instead of a misguided big government ideology. The other alternative now is no government as proposed by some of these Republicans. Once the people see that one of the parties at least represents responsible rational government we shall rise from the ashes like a Phoenix.Tobin MacMahon would, in the first six years of his political career prove to be a man of great eloquence and passion. If he weren't born in another country he would've been a top candidate for the presidency. His ability to unite people around a common cause was unequal and once Bentsen retired he would wholeheartedly support any effort to make Tobin the next Democratic Senate Leader. If there was anybody who could save the Democratic Party it was Tobin MacMahon. That was why when in 1977 when Bentsen began his tenure as Senate Majority Leader why he pushed for the nomination of Tobin MacMahon to become the first Irish born Senate Majority Whip. Tobin only seemed to get stronger and more determined as the odds stacked up: in 1978 in a strong wave against the Democrats Tobin managed to win re-election over the decorate war hero and Navy Captain John Warner by a margin of over 212,400.....more than twice the margin he won in a pro-Democratic year against a lackluster Republican. For an Irish born liberal Catholic Democrat in a Southern swing state that was in the words of Dan Rather "unbelievable". Tobin MacMahon would go on to do great things, Lloyd Bentsen knew it.Bentsen: Granted, but the New Dealers aren't the only ones who lost y'know? Moderates like Gary Hart lost nationwide too. Did you consider that?MacMahon: Like I said a temporary loss. Once the new political realignment is complete the Democratic Party will rise from the ashes. Mark my words.Only time could tell how prophetic Tobin MacMahon's words would be.

Scott Westman gets himself a cold can of Guinness Draught while watching the news. It had been nearly a month since that fateful election and now Scott Westman felt certain that come November 1982 his career would come to a crashing end. The scandal involving his former girlfriend Calpernia Weils was proving to be damning to his viability as a public official. However most surprisingly while his national approval ratings remained at an all time low in Montana it was down to about 38%. Maybe there was still some way he could recover his reputation. And worst of all, now he was all alone on Christmas Eve with nothing to do but get buzzed and watch television. At least Lawrence would be in the US Senate now. Then he heard a knock on his door. He opened it to find a tall beautiful redhead waiting for him: Brea! What the hell is she doing here?Brea: Daddy!She charges into his arms knocking him back a few feet or so.Westman: Babe, you're here?Brea: Oh yeah well......private Catholic school. Advance course schedule, y'know? Now I'm going to stay up here with my dear old man!Westman sighsBrea: I thought you would be glad to see me? Do you have any idea how long I've been wanting to just stay with you? Those visits weren't doing me any good, I want to wake up every morning and just see you. You know how hard it was for me growing up without a father for so many years?Westman: I’m sorry it just caught me off guard and all. Besides now that you don’t have any high school left what are you going to do here? Just stay indoors all day? This isn’t the safest of towns for a girl your age.Brea: Yeah I guess so, but I refuse to stay in Missoula with Aunt Nora and her boyfriend. I can never get any sleep!Westman sighs once more.Westman: What to do with you my sweet, what to do.Westman and his daughter would catch up on old times while watching some movies on Westman’s projector in the living room. After a few cups of eggnog the two would drift off to sleep on the couch.Westman wakes up the next morning to the smell of coffee. He wakes up to find Brea at the coffee machine pouring Irish Coffee into his mug. He takes a swig.Westman: About those presents..................

Westman entered the Senate Chambers and observed the new contingent of Senators being sworn in as a number of his former colleagues packed their bags. He finds his friend, the newly elected Senator from Pennsylvania, Lawrence Watson.Westman: Hey Larry!Watson: Whoa Scott! You scared the crap out of me!Westman: So how was your first time kid?Watson: Oh it was slow and I was glad to finally get it over. How is Brea treating you?Westman: How do you think? You know how pissed off a teenage girl gets when the press is writing articles entitled "Westman's New Love?" with her picture on the front cover? Either she interprets it as you know icky or that I'm a bad father.Watson: Well when you have a pretty young woman with you on a dinner date, what are people supposed to think?Westman: Well at least they're not questioning my sexuality.Watson: To each their own I guess, though how was it Scott? I mean Calpernia she isn't like your average everyday wom.....Westman: My interest in her was strictly physical. There I said it. Can we please go onto another topic? I don't want to be talking about this for the next century.Watson: Okay.Westman: Pretty shocking huh? All of these dinosaurs being axed the same year you get elected. I didn't know you had it in you kid, anybody else in your shoes would've been decimated, how did you pull off the upset of the century?Watson: I have no damn clue, must be my sexual charisma.Westman shrugs.Delaware Senator Joseph Biden comes over and shakes Westman's hand.Biden: Take a good look Scott, this could be you in two years.Westman: Ya think? I'm already planning my retirement as we speak.Biden: Really now? Not so confident after your great passion for women of a certain build was revealed?Westman: SHE SEEMED PRETTY DAMNED WOMAN TO ME! HELL SHE WAS MORE WOMAN THAN ANY WOMAN YOU EVER DATED JOE!Everyone in the Senate Chamber looks at Westman.Thurmond: Ain't you the little testy fellow?Stennis: Let it go young man. Once you leave this chamber you will no longer have to deal with the torment of your inner urges.Stafford: Don't worry gentlemen, once Westman is ejected by the voters in '82 we can once again focus on advancing legislation over some libertine's sex exploits.Biden: Come now Robert, that is totally ignoring other details of Westman's life like gee his dedication to the underprivileged of this city, volunteering at the Salvation Army Store when Congress isn't in session, donating his proceeds from the stock market to the Young Boys and Girls Club of America, being a devoted father to his two kids, need I go further?Westman: It's alright Joe, in two years the opinion of this POS won't matter that much once I've retired to a lodge near Flathead Lake.Every Senator around Westman freezes and looks towards his direction.Senator Edward Kennedy walks towards Westman, puts a hand on his shoulder.Kennedy: Scotty my boy, did I really just hear that? Are you really planning on retirement........in '83?Westman looks down, thinking of what to tell Ted Kennedy. He knew this would happen, that eventually he would have to tell Ted that he would decline to run for re-election in 1982 and pursue life in the private sector. The past four years had been tumultuous for Westman: the legislation, the unwanted press, the birth of his son Patrick, his involvement in various charity organizations were all taking a toll on his sanity. He thought he had a future in politics like his grandfather before him had......but maybe like he who came before he realized that the life of the private man was infinitely more pleasurable than that of politician. He wanted to spend as much time with his daughter, the daughter whom he had spent four years separated from, and he wanted to be a part of his son Patrick's life. And if he could win her back, he wanted to be part of Laura's life. He had lied to his friend Lawrence, he couldn't imagine watching his son grow up without being with Patrick's mother. He had no idea how he would win her back, but for the sake of feeling complete he would find a way. If only for Patrick. This wasn't about his own political vulnerability. If vulnerability had been a concern of Westman he would've found a way to rally back up in the polls by primary time and he would've, against all hope, given his challengers a hell of a primary fight. He made a lot of friends, a lot of enemies in his short time on the Hill, but now he needed to be there for his family.Westman faces Teddy Kennedy.Westman: Yes Teddy, good ole friend.

Everything at the moment just seemed so surreal. Like I was frozen in time. The craziness of the whole situation, left me shocked to my core. How was I to know that this could possibly happen. Oh damn my eyes!There he is, my friend. My dear old pal, Teddy...........on the table. The consequences of my indiscretions......the ultimate price. If only I hadn't turned around, if only I didn't see it with my eyes. Teddy, my dear friend, my comrade, my brother............IT SHOULD'VE BEEN ME!